With the Pragmatic Sanction, the Spanish rule passed to Ferdinand VII's young daughter, Isabella, upon his death-and touched off the Carlist Wars, with Ferdinand's brother Don Carlos pitting himself against Queen Regent Maria Cristina. This program employs dramatizations, artwork, maps, film clips, and footage of palaces and other landmarks to make sense of the complex political and social forces at work during the years of the First and Second Carlist...

While the Viking raids have come one after another in the Occident for almost a century, in November 885, hundreds of Scandinavian boats sailing towards Burgundy present themselves before the walls of Paris and besiege the city. The stubborn resistance of Count Eudes makes it possible for the besieged to resist until the arrival of Emperor Charles the Fat, who, in exchange for a large amount of money, obtains the withdrawal of the Scandinavians. To...

Today, much of the planet's population lives in a British-shaped world. How did this clutch of islands off the coast of Europe come to dominate the globe? The British presents the history of the British Isles from Stonehenge to World War Two using gripping drama reconstruction, the latest CG, time-lapse and aerial footage. A Tale of Two Cities covers the London Exposition, Industrial Revolution urbanization issues, and Victorian social reforms inspired...

The British government decides that all further famine relief for the Irish must be paid for from rates raised on Irish landlords. When landlords either cannot or will not pay, many evict their struggling tenants, forcing millions to either move into already crowded cities or to emigrate. At the famine's conclusion, one million Irish have perished and the remaining working classes attempt to build new lives in America. For those that remain inIreland,...

The Jacobite struggle has often been dismissed as a dynastic spat that culminated in Bonnie Prince Charlie's tragic defeat at Culloden in 1745. But rather than a Scottish story, Dr. Clare Jackson reveals the Jacobite campaign took place on a European stage and inspired a nexus of international intrigue and covert plots. In this second episode, Jackson reveals why so many law-abiding Scots and English were prepared to support the Catholic Stuarts and...

This program examines how liberal ideas from the French Revolution fueled the fires of European nationalism, and how extreme nationalistic beliefs led to World War I. In Germany, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck constructed the philosophical and political framework for a unified Germany, steeped in the mythology of a German super-race and its destiny: to rule Europe. Serbians, inflamed by nationalism, assassinated Austrian Archduke Ferdinand, and Germany,...

He was one of the 19th century's most important revolutionaries, an architect of Italian unity and a popular ladies' man: Giuseppe Garibaldi. A man full of contradictions, Garibaldi nevertheless enjoyed great admiration and respect. Featuring interviews with historians and his descendants, this program visits significant sites of his revolutionary activities to help paint a full picture of this man who went from guerrilla fighter to national hero....

When Bonnie Prince Charlie arrives in Scotland to regain the crown of his ancestors the clans are called upon rise in armed revolt for him. Many do, and they invade England. But others oppose him and join the British side to fight against the rebels. Some though play a cunning double game, pretending to be loyal to the British whilst secretly raising clansmen for the Prince

The award-winning Horrible Histories returns for a special episode about Mary, Queen of Scots, starring Jessica Ransom. We follow Mary as she stumbles from young girl in Scotland, to queen in France, back to queen in Scotland, and finally to Elizabeth I's public enemy no. 1—with a bit of Queenian Rhapsody thrown in for good measure! Meanwhile across the world we meet silver-nosed Danish scientist Tycho Brahe, and Mr. H gives us his unique take on...

By the end of the 18th century, many Enlightenment ideals about society had been put into practice by three remarkable men: Nicolas de Condorcet, who advocated for civil rights, the abolishment of slavery, and gender equality; Thomas Jefferson, principal author of the Declaration of Independence; and Frederick the Great, whose "enlightened absolutism" meant religious tolerance in Prussia. This program profiles their achievements.